In video and film production environments, high resolution video material needs to be stored, processed and transferred over high speed networks. In order to achieve the necessary throughput for file access, storage area networks (SAN) may be used for storage. One example is network attached storage (NAS). In many cases, the ability to access the file system very efficiently is crucial. Some applications require very high data rates: e.g. streaming or copying of 2 k video material in real-time can result in data rates around 1.6 Gigabits per second (1.6 Gbps), and 4 k video material up to 10 Gbps, depending on factor such as frame rate, color depth, and/or other such parameters. US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/010233A1 provides a solution for determining the throughput of a SAN, using a set of software tools to be installed on one or more computer systems that share access to a SAN. The software tools coordinate loading, testing and measurement of storage throughput on the shared data storage system, and further coordinate the collection, storage and presentation of result data obtained through such loading, testing and measurement. However, the RAN needs to be configured in a maintenance mode, and actual data traffic is only simulated. Further, the results are presented for human service personnel to make judgments and react, thereby requiring human intervention, for example, to locate bottlenecks and service the system.
In view thereof, it would be desirable to have a storage system that during normal operation, autonomously determines and handles file access problems in SAN or NAS storage systems, and provides smart solutions for these problems, thereby allowing reliable and substantially continuous access at a high data rate.